Al-Qaida still out there

CAIRO, Egypt – Two alleged al-Qaida militants were killed when their car exploded Thursday in southern Yemen, an incident that bore the marks of a U.S. missile strike.

The deaths, reported by the Yemeni defense ministry, came a day after six Yemeni soldiers were reportedly killed when their military vehicle exploded near a market in Zinjibar, an al-Qaida stronghold. Surviving soldiers opened fire, killing four civilians, a local journalist said.

Witnesses to the explosion Thursday reported seeing an unmanned drone in the wake of the incident, suggesting an American missile struck the car. The U.S. military began flying unmanned aircraft over Yemen last year, although at the time they were used for surveillance rather than attacking militants. Pentagon officials had no comment on Thursday’s incident.

The deaths cast a spotlight on the continuing fight against al-Qaida in the wake of the killing of its leader, Osama bin Laden, by American special forces in Pakistan. Bin Laden’s demise is not likely to weaken the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, where members are believed to be exploiting recent public unrest in the capital city of Sanaa to expand their influence in impoverished rural towns and villages.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the latest iteration of al-Qaida in Yemen, has drawn the attention of Western and Saudi intelligence agencies in recent months, more than al-Qaida affiliates in South Asia.

The group has been linked to multiple international terror plots, including planting bombs aboard U.S.-bound planes last fall. Experts believe an al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula member built the bomb used in the failed attack by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day 2009 and another failed suicide bomb attack that year on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayif.

Unlike other al-Qaida offshoots that relied on bin Laden directives, al-Qaida in Yemen’s members have sworn oaths of loyalty to Nasser Al Wuhayshi, a former bin Laden associate with the authority to order his own domestic and regional attacks, said Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert based at Princeton University.

“Bin Laden’s death will not affect the issue of extremism in Yemen. Al-Qaida has many cells throughout the world and in Yemen, and even if the head of the organization is cut, other cells will come,” said professor Murad al-Azzany, who studies Islamist groups at Yemen’s Sanaa University. “Extremism in Yemen flourishes primarily because of the political situation here. When rulers lack legitimacy, their people search for other sources of inspiration.”

In Yemen, the 3-month-old protest movement to unseat President Ali Abdullah Saleh has provided opportunity for al-Qaida to consolidate gains, particularly in the impoverished tribal south and east.

This week, as Saleh spurned mediation efforts by leaders of neighboring Gulf countries that would have had him step down in return for political immunity, Yemen appeared to be nearing either fundamental reform or civil war, each with profound consequences for the future of al-Qaida.

Within Yemen, the general populace does not appear to be swayed by al-Qaida appeals for jihad.

“Osama bin Laden has no relation to me or to Yemen,” said Talal Thabit, a businessman in Sanaa.”Hearing about his death, I feel nothing. My focus is on unseating our corrupt government and building a better future for all Yemenis.”